‘Sorry for the Lighthouse Family!’ Council pays to upgrade its ‘on hold’ music

Andrew Brookes

County council bosses have paid for a new ‘easy listening’ soundtrack to please on-hold callers...and say customers are loving the new tunes.

Lincolnshire County Council had been receiving complaints about the ‘unpalatable’ default hold music that greeted customers ringing up for the Call Connect bus service so in February switched to using commercial songs.

The council said the move, which costs £175 a year, has helped stop customers from hanging up in frustration.

Coun Richard Davies Executive Member for Highways at Lincolnshire County Council, said: “People can be kept waiting for a few minutes at peak times so we use commercial songs for our on-hold music. Quite frankly, our callers love it.

“It costs just £175 per year and since we introduced it, we have reduced our abandoned call rate by half – from 4,000 calls per month to just 1,600.

“I would, however, like to take this opportunity to apologise for our use of the Lighthouse Family’s Ocean Drive. I accept this was a deplorable lapse in judgement and we deserve all the criticism we get.

“In our defence, it was either that or M People’s Movin On Up.”

Call Connect is the on-demand bus service that helps serve residents who are not on the county’s main service routes.

The full list of tracks used:

Everywhere – Fleetwood Mac

Penny Lover – Lionel Richie

Easy Like Sunday Morning – Lionel Richie

Dock of The Bay – Ottis Reading

Fall From The Stars – Simply Red

High – Lighthouse Family

Ocean Drive – Lighthouse Family

One of Us – Abba

Winner Takes It All – Abba

Say A Little Prayer – Aretha Franklin

Don`t Know Why – Norah Jones

Say What You Want – Texas

Stand By You – Pretenders

Suddenly – Billy Ocean

Time After Time – Cyndi Lauper

Waiting For A Star – Boy meets girl

Dreams – Fleetwood Mac

Wonderful World – Louis Armstrong

Nine Million Bicycles – Katie Melua

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